Bradley Wiggins showed at the front of the Tour of Murcia in today's third stage, 24 hours before the time trial that will represent his first significant test of the season.

Wiggins finished ninth on the mountainous stage, having earlier escaped in a 10-man break that was deemed sufficiently dangerous for Lance Armstrong's RadioShack team to mass at the front and chase it down.

At the finish it was the Australian Luke Roberts who won the stage. Robbie Hunter, the winner of the first two stages, abandoned the tour on hearing that his wife had gone into labour.

Tomorrow's penultimate stage, a time trial over 22km, has been billed as a showdown between two of the favourites for this year's Tour de France, Wiggins and Armstrong.

Meanwhile, Alberto Contador, the Tour's outright favourite and defending champion, stars in the Paris-Nice, which gets under way on Sunday.